Do You Know What’s Really in Your Water Bottle…or Your Portfolio?

June 22, 2012

My kids absolutely LOVE bottled water.  I remember that when bottled water first came into the public eye, my friends & I laughed and said that if we came up with catchy packaging, a cool name, and maybe even a slogan that sounds like we care about something, we could make millions of dollars selling regular tap water to people who are far too easily separated from their hard earned dollars. Little did we know that we underestimated how much money we could make big time!!!! It’s not MILLIONS, it’s BILLIONS…per month!!! Continue reading “Do You Know What’s Really in Your Water Bottle…or Your Portfolio?”

The Worst Investment Decision I’ve Ever Made

June 20, 2012

I’ve been doing a lot of workshops and webcasts on investing recently, and with so much market volatility, and the less than spectacular Facebook IPO, participants have been asking me for my personal opinion on how to invest.  One thing I tell everyone is that when it comes to investing, I’m no different than many of you. I’ve had my share of winners and losers, and even though I’ve spent 18 years of my career in finance, that does not bestow upon me some secret gift when it comes to investing. What it has done is convinced me that there are sound, fundamental investment principles that we should all learn to stick with, but at the risk of self incrimination, here is the worst investment decision I’ve ever made: Continue reading “The Worst Investment Decision I’ve Ever Made”

What Your Employees Don’t Know About Target Date Funds Could Hurt Them

June 12, 2012

Some of the most common questions that I’ve been receiving from employees during recent retirement planning workshops relate to confusion around the proper use of target-date funds. Ironically, these investment options are designed to simplify rather than complicate the process of saving for retirement. When used correctly, target date funds can help employees allocate and re-balance their investment assets appropriately to achieve their retirement goals with one stop diversification.  In fact, more than three-quarters of all 401(k) plans now offer target-date fund options for plan participants and in many plans, they serve as the default investment for automatic enrollment. Continue reading “What Your Employees Don’t Know About Target Date Funds Could Hurt Them”

Is Life Insurance a Good Investment?

June 04, 2012

Permanent life insurance has a whole host of benefits, especially for taxpayers in a high tax bracket, but does it make sense when you don’t have dependents? We got this question from one of our Facebook fans (yes- you can ask a question and we’ll answer it for you here.) Continue reading “Is Life Insurance a Good Investment?”

Why I Didn’t Invest in Facebook

May 31, 2012

No, it’s not because I’m a Facebook hater. In fact, I think I’m one of the few Facebook users who actually really likes Facebook (yes, even the timeline). I wish I could say that I anticipated the company’s weakened growth forecast but it’s not that either. Nor is it because I necessarily think that the growing shift to mobile will turn Facebook into the next MySpace. The reason I didn’t buy Facebook stock is because I simply don’t buy any individual stocks. Period. Continue reading “Why I Didn’t Invest in Facebook”

Three Investment Mistakes the Trained Eye Can Spot

May 14, 2012

Recently, I had the opportunity to have a series of one-on-one meetings with employees called Ask-a-Planner sessions where the employees could ask me any question on any financial topic they wanted. Fortunately, they didn’t “stump the planner!” Many people used their time as an opportunity to have me review their allocation in their 401(k).  While most of them had an asset allocation that was a fit for them, some of the statements had huge rookie mistake red flags that I’d seen before. Continue reading “Three Investment Mistakes the Trained Eye Can Spot”

How Much is Your Financial Advisor Costing You?

April 12, 2012

When a friend of mine recently told me that she had a financial advisor, I asked her how much he was charging her. At first, she didn’t think he was charging her anything. When she realized that he probably wasn’t helping her out of the goodness of his heart, she acknowledged that she had no idea how or what she was paying him and didn’t remember him ever discussing this with her. Continue reading “How Much is Your Financial Advisor Costing You?”

Which investment firm is the “best?”

March 30, 2012

Who knew that a post-modern world where a big government controls everything and has a televised tournament where children fight till the death would be so popular? The Hunger Games movie opened recently and had the third best debut weekend of all time.  It even beat all of the Twilight series movies as a box office success.  Fortunately, or unfortunately depending upon how I view this, I have read both the Twilight trilogy as well as the Hunger Games trilogy.  Continue reading “Which investment firm is the “best?””

What Would Goldilocks Do?

March 16, 2012

Over the last few months, the stock market has reached levels that we have not seen since before the financial crisis/Great Recession.  Companies are reporting good earnings.  Interest rates are low.  Economists say that we are in a recovery.  Yet, so many people I talk to are still very afraid to re-enter the stock market.   I see a lot of 401(k) accounts that are still more conservatively allocated than the employee’s goals and age would indicate they could be.  My question, which I ask either to myself or to no one in particular, is “Why?”  I have my own theories and I talked with a psychologist about what her field might say about this issue. Continue reading “What Would Goldilocks Do?”

Investing for People Who Hate Investing

March 01, 2012

If you’re like most people, you may not know much about investing or quite frankly, even care to know. Perhaps you’re only vaguely aware of what’s going on in the stock market and rarely look at your 401(k) performance. The last thing you want to worry about is researching and monitoring mutual funds. Yet, you’re responsible for choosing and managing the investments that will help determine whether you can retire early or end up having to eat cat food in your retirement. Continue reading “Investing for People Who Hate Investing”

There’s More Than One Way to Become a Millionaire

February 24, 2012

I listened to a radio interview recently with a talented and enigmatic artist, David Choe, who has an amazing life story.  It’s filled with a lot of twists and turns, making a fortune gambling in Las Vegas, losing that same fortune in Vegas, some wild and erratic behavior, and most recently becoming a $100-millionaire overnight.   Here’s the cool one-in-a-billion kind of story that makes us all think “wow, that could be me one day.” Continue reading “There’s More Than One Way to Become a Millionaire”

If It Looks Too Good To Be True…

February 10, 2012

Have you ever seen one of the infomercials about a workout routine, a diet program, or a piece of exercise equipment and said to yourself “that just looks too good to be true”?  Well…so did this guy!  In a video that has become an internet sensation, Furious Pete shows how he made a remarkable physical transformation (you have to check out the video to see just how amazing the transformation is) and took both before and after photos in only 5 hours as proof. Proof?  Yep!  Proof that his transformation was not completely legitimate. Nor was it the product of hard work, diet, or exercise.  Continue reading “If It Looks Too Good To Be True…”

Investing Lessons From Mitt Romney and the Italian Cruise Ship Tragedy

January 20, 2012

Within the last 24 hours, I watched a presidential debate and saw endless news footage of an Italian cruise ship sinking.  As a guy who lived on a boat for a few years, I couldn’t help but read everything I could find about the cruise ship, the captain, and the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.   As a political geek, I couldn’t help but watch yet another debate with an ever narrowing field of candidates.  My only regret this political season is that there are only debates for the Republicans.  During the last election cycle we had them for both parties, and for me that was a wonderful thing.  But, that’s not what I ‘m writing about today. Continue reading “Investing Lessons From Mitt Romney and the Italian Cruise Ship Tragedy”

Back to Basics: What Exactly is a Bond?

January 12, 2012

Last week, we discussed how to invest by buying a stock and becoming an owner of a company. This week, we’ll take a look at becoming a loaner instead. The first experience most people have as a loaner is with a bank. You loan the bank money by making a deposit, your money earns some interest, and you can withdraw it. You can also go to the bank to borrow money for something like a car or a home. Continue reading “Back to Basics: What Exactly is a Bond?”

Back to Basics: What Exactly is a Stock?

January 05, 2012

With the start of a new year, it might be a good time to take a step back. As financial planners and educators, we can get so caught up in the complexities of things like employee benefits, various investment strategies, and tax laws that sometimes we forget that sometimes people just really need to understand the basics. I recently asked a group of workshop participants what exactly a stock was and one person said it was just a piece of paper. I thought about it later and realized that his answer reflected many of the misconceptions people have about investing (aside from the fact that we don’t even really use paper stock certificates anymore). In fact, there’s a surprising amount of insight you can gain just from examining some of the basic investment vehicles. Continue reading “Back to Basics: What Exactly is a Stock?”

Will It Ever Come Back?

December 30, 2011

No, this isn’t an advice column for your love life that’s going to tell you, “If you love something, let it go.  If it comes back, blah blah blah…”  Nor is this the story of a man’s hairline, because clearly the answer there is NO!  This is my favorite story of 2011 mixed with a frequently asked question from my 1-on-1 sessions with employees of one of the companies I visit regularly. Continue reading “Will It Ever Come Back?”